Good sleep is good health. Lack of sleep makes you less productive and more prone to illness. We generally do not emphasize on the good quality of sleep because we as a culture are oriented towards productivity and resting tends to take a backseat. And why not, there are so many awe-inspiring things to do that even a 24-hour cycle seems a short time to achieve everything. In our endeavor to reach new heights, we forget sleep as an essential health concern and end up pushing ourselves too much. This results in poor sleeping habits which eventually affects our health in the long run.

So, the question is how to go to sleep. Or more accurately what if you just don’t get sleep?

There are many reasons you have difficulty in falling asleep, and one of the major concerns in today’s time is social media. Also, the unexpected global pandemic has made life challenging with the new normal is staying in more than staying out. Vitamin D deficiency, along with restricted movement also affects sleeping patterns bringing with it many other ailments including lack of concentration.

The combination of social media addiction fueled by covid-19 lockdown has brought a whole new aspect of lethargy and restlessness which again comes due to a lack of healthy sleeping patterns. A major chunk of the population is unable to sleep and rest due to tense and worry that is affecting health making it difficult for them to function. Sleep is an essential part of our lives, and we have trouble sleeping properly because distraction is better than resting.

Unhealthy sleeping habit is bad news. But you can turn that around and get better sleep at night, by following the below tips to improve your sleeping cycle and enjoy your day. There are many things to help you sleep, boost productivity, and the quality of your life. But it all starts with good sleeping habits.

Install Sleep Apps that Aid Relaxing

No matter what the X generation say, apps have changed the way we interact with the world. You have every app in the palm of your hand, and it makes sense you use it to its advantage. Sleeping apps are dime-a-dozen, and you can make the most of it by installing on your phone and, keep track of your sleeping habits. Not just that, tons of other apps count your quality of sleep and sync it with your activities and eating habits to give you a comprehensive report, which suggests you with best-customized details on what to do. So, use that. Install calming apps that have soft music, acoustic sounds, and nature-inspired music that calms your jangled nerves. Install guided meditation apps, sleep meditation apps, and listen to them before you sleep. Imagine you are in a restful location, which can be easily possible by turning the sound of your app to the soothing music. Try it, and experiment. You just might like it.

Do Breathing Exercise Twice in a Day

Deep breathing can calm you down and help you get good sleep. Breathe from your nose, and exhale from your mouth. You can start with 2 minutes daily and increase the duration eventually to 5 minutes then, 10 minutes and, so on as your capacity. Try to incorporate in the morning after waking up, to energize, and before sleeping to remove stress from your body.

Deep breathing can help you lower your heart rate, blood pressure, and stress levels while making you relax in the process. The simple yet transformative act of deep breathing can have amazing effects on your overall health and align your sleeping cycle.

Practice Reduced Screen Time

The ability to relax is disappearing from our lives as more and more people are using the resting time scrolling through endless social media posts. This is happening especially at the time of lockdown where the brain is constantly consuming information and processing at a rapid pace that makes relaxation a very difficult goal to achieve. Also called doom scrolling, you just keep looking at your screen instead of taking rest which activates our minds making sleeping even more difficult and elusive.

Social media is not the only reason for bad sleeping habits but is definitely one of the major contributors to bad quality of sleep. Recharging is an important element for enhanced productivity, but we think otherwise, and spend time procrastinating which has adverse effects on our sleeping health.

Take a conscious decision to reduce the screen time and watch the quality of your sleep improve.

Find Best Temperature to Induce Rest

Improve your environment to help you relax and get sleep. You can do this by finding the best temperature in your room. It can range from 18C to 24C. Find the best temperature that calms you, keeps you cool. The balance has you neither sweating, nor chilling in a frosty room. Get your blankets, comforter and keep the air conditioner at a cool temperature that feels comfortable. Find the best bedsheets to help you sleep peacefully.

You can also control your body temperature by working out, and practicing breathing techniques that calms your body and induces you to sleep. Opt for temperature balancing bed sheets that help you keep your body in control.

Journal Your Thoughts

Writing down your thoughts can help to ease your mind after a long day. Take a pen, diary, and write down what is on your mind. It can be a list of tasks accomplished on the same day or task to do the next day. Or it could be just about any thought that is taking up your mind space not helping you to relax or sleep. When you write down your thoughts before bedtime, it helps even more as all the worry and residual stress gets an outlet. The very activity of taking a pen and writing down has a very therapeutic effect that soothes and calms you down. Unfinished task tends to take up a lot of your time and hampers your sleeping pattern. When you make writing or journaling your thoughts at night a habit, you worry less and decrease the cycle of thoughts going through your mind, if not completely stopping them. Adopting this technique has immense benefits in the long run, which include, clarity, focus, and achieving restful sleep.

Exercise Daily & Stay Active

When you exercise, you experience good sleep at night and feel more active, alert, and aware during the day. Exercise helps to keep sleep apnea, insomnia away, and, aid you to stick to your sleeping cycle.

Spend more time outside and go exercise 5 to 5 days a week, as doing physical activity not only helps you with restful sleep, but also helps you speed up metabolism, elevate body temperature, and stimulate hormones such as cortisol. While exercising anytime is a good habit, if you plan to do vigorous exercise then consider doing them three hours before bedtime as it can affect your sleeping pattern. Alternatively, you can always go for low impact exercise like walks, which can also help you with restful sleep.

Eat Right with Nutritious Foods & Vegetables

Reduce consumption of caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol.

You have to be mindful of what you eat in the daytime as that affects your sleeping cycle. Try to limit your alcohol intake in the evening, similarly, caffeine and nicotine are stimulants that keep your brain activity buzzing damaging your bedtime.

Big meals are great but they can easily disrupt your sleep as it can interfere with your sleeping cycle.

Stay Hydrated

Staying hydrated throughout the day not only energizes you and keeps you in a good mood, and cleanses your entire body, but it also helps to induce sleep. Don’t have lots of water just before sleeping as it can disrupt your sleep with bathroom breaks, but staying hydrated all through the day has numerous benefits for your overall well-being including good restful sleep. You can try to drink water once every hour, or drink when you feel thirsty to ensure that you have a bottle of water with you all the time so you sip through the day.

Improve your Sleeping Environment

Sleeping environment basically means that your brain knows through subconscious signaling that it is indeed time to sleep. It means using dim lights, music to help you sleep, bedtime reading, stretching, ensure the noise is down, the room is cool enough, and comfortable to sleep as comfortably as possible. A comfy bedding set ensures you not only sleep peacefully but also feel refreshed and rejuvenated. Your bedroom design matters. There is no price tag for good night sleep so if you can, then consider investing in luxury bed sheets.

Creating a relaxing sleeping environment means creating a bedtime ritual and being prepared with the right set of bedroom interior like relaxing color or calming bedroom colors so that your mind and body knows it’s time to unwind, and relax. White bedsheets for example are popular because they are soothing to look. There are many ways to fall asleep peacefully, and you can find the way that best suits your lifestyle.

Learn how to go back to sleep

The best way to get back to sleep is to relax and stop trying to sleep. If you cannot sleep and awake for 20 mins, then you should move. If you are not able to sleep, then go to another room, and indulge in relaxing activities like reading, listening to audiobooks, or painting. Your best sleep aid is a comfy bedding set that feels soft, supple, and cuddlesome, so ensure you are sorted in the department. A good mattress and bedding set goes a long way.

Make your goal as relaxation

Sleeping remedies may differ but what remains constant for healthy sleeping habits is the ability to feel refreshed after waking up. The goal of sleep or ways to sleep better is to feel energized once you wake up. You have to change your goal from getting a specific number of hours of sleep and change it to how refreshed you feel after waking up. You will only feel refreshed and rejuvenated if you make relaxation as your goal and not the number of hours. Relaxation as a goal would mean less stress, less worry, living in the moment, and enjoying your day as best as you can. Take one day at a time. Mindfulness as a technique can be very powerful to achieve relaxation. You can try mindfulness for a week, and watch how your body responds to it.

Learn to De-stress

Learn to calm your mind by trying to focus on one task. Our brains tend to be overstimulated during the rest of the day, and at night it becomes difficult to relax. De-stress often requires you to be aware of your surroundings and very attuned to the way your mind works. Clearing your head, and learning how to lessen the impact of worry can prove to be beneficial in the long run. Invest in developing habits that help you to relax like reading before sleeping, listening to soft music, dimming the lights, taking a warm bath, or listening to an audiobook. Generally, after a hectic day with stress and anger, one may have a loop of thoughts on rewind which affects your sleeping cycle. It's important to be mindful of this habit of staying in residual thoughts, and take a step back and relax. Habits to clear your mind can be very helpful in this regard.

Choose Healthy Night Time Snacks

We all get hungry at night, so it’s important to watch what we eat as we wake up for midnight cravings. A pizza at 10 PM is easily a bad choice since it disrupts your sleeping pattern and is heavy to digest, so ditch the junk food. While fruits like bananas, strawberries, pears, and avocados are best to feel full and light at the same time. You can also go for warm milk, yogurt, peanuts, a low-cal small cereal bowl, and a sandwich for your midnight snacking options. You have to be mindful of what you eat, and it differs for most people because for some certain snacks that can promote sleep, and for some, it may cause indigestion. That’s why it’s important we stick to light snacks.

Follow a Sleep Cycle & Stick to it

We know easier said than done, but following a sleeping-cycle can be very beneficial in the long run. Think of it this way. If you follow a sleep cycle and a fixed time sleeping and waking up and stick to it, you will not only find benefits both long term and short term you will also find you are more focused, aware, and alert throughout your day. It will be difficult initially, but eventually, you will enjoy the fruits of your labor. Be it a weekend or a weekday, a fixed time of waking up and sleep can be a remarkable decision in your life that will change the way you live.

Limit Your Napping Habit

Naps are good but, they are not great to recalibrate your sleeping patterns. If you are struggling with goodnight sleep, then napping in the middle of the day is not recommended. If you catch up on sleep on weekends, it will do more harm than good when you want to improve your sleeping pattern. While napping can affect your sleeping patterns, power naps those around 15 mins or less can recharge your brain and help you focus. So, choose your napping time carefully.

Walk after Dinner & Lunch

Walking is the best form of exercise no matter your age. Walking after eating not only aids digestion but also aids a healthy sleeping pattern. Try to go for a short walk after eating your lunch and dinner. Our hectic lifestyle ensures that we do not move out, and sleep after eating a hearty meal, but this does more harm than good. Sleep well by walking as much as possible, but maximize your sleeping health by walking after eating.